Filtering through the misfiring game some thoughts.
Living in a life without meaning as the song of one of my 70s favourites goes….
It’s January stormy windy and wet outside. Difficult to get any rythmn going. Still turning up, chopping wood, carrying water and making my bed daily. Hoping, maybe knowing that these things will carry me through.
I didn’t need to tweak my back last Saturday for no reason that I can discern. I was well rested and warmed up in advance of hitting the squat bar. I think the tweak came with just the bar, even before I added any weight.
Scrolling back a week or so I do now recall a slight dull ache while doing warm up hip circles. I think I had become familiar with the ache and begun to dismiss it as just one of those things. Little things matter.
Don’t seem to have progressed at all. Last night a late call for a singles hit had me late to the ball, couldn’t hit a serve consistently and the backhand was like a coal shovel. Everything stuttery and jerky. I hear myself “smooth Mike make it smooth, turn early” Maybe because of the fact that it was a poor showing it has benefit. Underneath the bonnet, I am remaining calm, trying to be analytical, processing what is happening is it me or is it him or somewhere in between. 1-6, 4-6, 3-3.
I start to find the answer after the first set. Knowing and doing, changing mid game is hard to do. Great practice then, to try and do it on the practice court.
No doubt the lingering sore back has a part to play, though it is feeling easier. Good warm up and mobilisation before play. There is something deliceous about cracking my spine, brrm , brrrm up and down but only when lying on one side the other side is not quite there. Maybe that is the crux of the matter with the sore back. Work in progress, more mobility especially for back before this morning’s practice.
Filtering through the misfiring game some thoughts. Slow down on serve, keep the arm straight and toss the ball higher reach up and let the racket do the work. Try please and bring the wrist through and don’t just rely on muscle. I know we have done it that way for years and years, blah, blah muscle memory, difficult to do. Get on with it. Oh yeah and relax those shoulders. There is marginal improvement, and I keep trying to reboot the onboard computer, for further gains until we finish.
Groundstrokes. Forehand too flat and backhand like the aforementioned coal shovel. Forehand is a straightforward slowness in changing grip when moving from the backhand. And backhand, too jerky. Why? Good question. I think it might be the ambition I have for the ball. The difficult ball to return as the coaches will repeat again and again is the deep ball. Thinking about this, I realise my ambition has returned to instinct. Ball coming fast and flat, hit it back flat and faster. The way I have played the game for so long. It is really satisfying when the ball fizzes back past my opponent. Here’s the question. How many errors am I prepared to make for each, fizzy, wizzy winner? How much does the buzz of the single shot outweight the ones that go long or hit the net. You’re taking the fun out of the game, traditional me says. This internal conversation plays out, while the game is in progress. New information to be processed is incoming every few seconds.
Back to the reboot. Through the errors something starts to emerge. Aim deeper, sacrifice some power for placement. Slowly I see the benefit of this approach. While it is not sufficient, at least the second and third sets are a more even contest. One other thing. MOVE!. If I go any slower I will leave a snail like trail on the court. Yes, moving helps a little too and I make a conscious effort to be on the balls of my feet. This improves as well. Conscious thought still has to be applied to play well.
The daily diary – my anchor. I was looking back at my daily diary from a previous year as the rain continued outside. Interesting to read the detail and surprised at how much I could not recall. How my training has changed, how my weight has changed, how my heartrate has changed, how much running I was previously doing. Valuable information. My approach to the daily diary tailed off last year and I think this was to my detriment. The daily diary is back this year is my commitment. Tracking training and matches and the bits in between. Important stuff on the days when chopping wood and carrying water is as far as I can see, the daily diary is building the bigger picture. Profound eh!
